


the gang goes to college

by Masterofkarate



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Canon typical terribleness, Dennis is a Bastard Man, Internalized Homophobia, Lesbian Dee Reynolds, Misogyny, Out Mac McDonald, PTSD, Recreational Drug Use, Trans Charlie Kelly, Transphobia, Trauma, dee thinks abt abusing adderall, tags & characters & relationships will be updated as the fic goes on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2020-05-15 17:39:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19300567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masterofkarate/pseuds/Masterofkarate
Summary: they are just as insufferable and terrible, but they are younger, gayer, and arts majors.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this has been born out of mania, the fact that it's finals week, & my job being slow.
> 
> you can absolutely expect dennis and frank, and likely artemis will be in there.

Charlie's feet draped over Mac's lap as he laid across the couch. He should have been paying attention to the words coming out of Mac's mouth, but he was too concentrated on the pattern he was drawing on his arm in blue pen.

"Charlie? Charlie?"

"Yeah man?" Charlie hummed, not looking up, barely registering what Mac had said.

"Are you listening to me?"

"Uh-huh," Charlie nodded, just as dazed. 

"What did I just say?"

"You asked if I was listening."

Mac huffed and pushed Charlie's legs out of his lap, Charlie tumbling and making a stray mark on his arm.

"C'mon," Charlie grumbled, looking down at his arm. "You messed it up!"

"I'm sitting here baring my soul and you're distracted by doodles!"

"It's art!"

"It's on your arm!"

"Whatever." Charlie licked his finger and started to rub at the pen, Mac wrinkling his nose in disgust. "So what were you saying? Something about Dennis, right?"

"So you were listening?" Mac asked with a smile.

Charlie shook his head, "You're always talking about Dennis."

"I am not!"

"Do you wanna fight about this or whine about Dennis?"

"Neither anymore," Mac answered, standing up, "You're being a dick, I'm going to the studio."

"Good! I don't want to hear you cry over Dennis anyway!" Charlie shouted behind Mac as Mac stormed out of the room.

Charlie rolled his eyes and flopped back on the couch, flinging his arm over his eyes dramatically. Now he had to find something to do with the afternoon. He was excited to fuck around with Mac, get stoned, huff some glue, play some video games, maybe paint (either a canvas or maybe Mac's back if they were high enough). He could do most of that stuff alone, but it's much more lame alone. He could go find Dennis, it would be funny to make Mac jealous.

He decided to smoke weed and eat instead. Mac got fussy about eating alone, but Charlie liked it. He could take as long as he wanted or eat really fast if he felt like it, plus there's a really cute waitress at the dining hall that Charlie was pretty sure he was in love with. Well, dining hall waitresses aren't real waitresses, but it doesn't matter. She's Charlie's favorite waitress ever. She doesn't like talking to Charlie too much, but Charlie doesn't mind, he's content just sit and stare at her and daydream.

He, of course, borrowed Mac's vape pen for the walk. Eating stoned was the best kind of eating.

On his way to the dining hall, he saw Dee sitting on a bench with a textbook in her lap. Charlie kept his head straight, he was going to pretend not to notice her, but she started calling his name. His shoulders dropped in defeat, so much for lunch alone and thinking about holding hands with the waitress.

"What, Dee?" Charlie asked frustrated. 

Dee scooted and patted the bench, inviting him to join her. With an exaggerated sigh, he did, taking a hit from the vape pen as his head fell back to look up at the clear sky.

“Where’re you off to?” Dee asked, acting too friendly. She wanted something, he could tell.

“Dinner.”

“Oh that’s fun!” Dee said, grinning excitedly, shutting her book on her finger to keep the page. “Are you meeting Mac there?”

“What do you want?” he asked, letting smoke lazily flow out of his mouth with his words.

“I’m just talking to my buddy, haven’t-”

“Dee! What do you want?” Charlie shouted, finally raising his voice.

“Fine, I need a place to stay tonight, my roommate is a crazy fucking bitch and I swear to god, Charlie, I’m giong to light her on fire one of these days.”

“Stay with Dennis,” Charlie shrugged.

“Oh yeah? And hear him fondle Mac in the middle of the night?”

“Gross, Dee!”

“It’s the truth!”

“You don’t have any other friends?” Charlie spat at her.

“Don’t be a dick, c’mon, you have that private bathroom and no roommates. Please, Charlie?”

“Fine, but you owe me.”  
“What do I owe you?”

“Can I use your car this weekend? I want to go on a date.”  
“You? You have a date? You’re kidding me?”

“No,” Charlie said with a proud grin.

“Fine, whatever. Yeah, you can use my car on  _ one  _ day this weekend.”

“Okay, great, and you’ll do my laundry?”

“I did not agree to that!”

“Fine, whatever, laundry’s a scam anyway, just the car.”

“Laundry is not- you know what, never mind. I’ll see you tonight, I’m gonna stop by my room and get some clothes and shit.”

“Whatever, bring something to sleep on, you’re not sleeping in bed with me.”

“Ew, why would I want to?”

“I don’t know, I don’t care, I definitely don’t want to sleep with you!” Charlie shouted at her before jumping off the bench with an angry huff. 

Of course Dennis’ stupid sister ruined his high. The Reynolds twins were always wrecking shit. He finished his walk towards the dining hall. By the time he got there, though, he was happy and high again. Good shit.

He first went to the area where the pretty waitress usually worked. She wasn’t there. A little disappointing, but not the worst. Charlie loaded up a tray, he got a burger and some mac and cheese and a brownie and some pasta. Perfect dinner, he thought. He grabbed a soda, lamenting about the fact the dining hall didn’t have beer. No meal is complete without beer, although if it’s before 11 am, vodka is an acceptable replacement. 

He wasn’t sure if he took a long time or a quick time to eat, but he was so happy he was here alone. If he had to listen to anybody talk, he would have killed them. He just got to focus on his food and how good it tasted and eat as much as possible. He did have to get up several times to refill his soda cup, however. 

When he was done, he wandered to the dish area, where the trays were stacked. He saw the familiar shade of blonde hair tied up in a hair net. His smile grew and his already squinty eyes closed up a bit more.

“Hey! It’s you!” Charlie said happily.

“Yep, yep, it’s me,” she said, not looking away as she pushed some trays down what looked like a conveyor belt.

“Hey, it’s me, it’s Charlie,” Charlie said, clearing his throat when he became hyper-aware of his high-pitched voice.

“Yah, Charlie, I know. I’m a little busy right now, what do you need?” She huffed, turning to look at him with her arms crossed.

“Just wanted to say hey, missed you over by the salad bar area thing today.”

“I don’t care, Charlie, I’m  _ working. _ ”

“Oh, I got it, so you want to like give me your number for when you’re not working?”

“No, I don’t want to do that! Just leave me alone!” she shouted, grabbing Charlie’s tray from his hand before turning to ignore him again.

“Alright, well, it was great seeing you, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Charlie said, taking slow backward steps away, he heard her sigh, but he didn’t care. He still smiled brightly to himself as he walked away with his hands in his pocket.

He’d definitely try to talk her into going on a date this weekend, borrowing Dee’s car would come in clutch! The one good thing about being friends with Dennis and Dee is that they were rich kids, and there were tons of advantages to knowing rich kids, such as, they could afford cars  _ and  _ parking spots at school for their cars. Pretty sweet deal.

He went back to his dorm, Dee wasn’t waiting around yet, thank goodness. He did have her number, he could text her, but he didn’t want her to know he had a phone. It was just a burner phone but he always made Mac give him everyone's numbers, but he only ever let Mac know when he had a phone. 

He decided he's just wait for her in his room, huffing glue and painting, one of his songs playing from a school loaned laptop on repeat. It was a song he'd been writing for the upcoming Spring Showcase. So far he'd only had a small orchestra at the school rehearse it a couple of times, but it wasn't awful. He hummed along, trying to think of what would make it better.

He was so engrossed in the music and the painting he was working on as he sat in the middle of the floor and the floaty feeling in his head that he didn't hear Dee knocking. When she walked in anyway, Charlie heard her but didn't lift his head in acknowledgement. 

"Charlie, you live like this? This place is a shit hole."

"Oh Yeah? You want to go back to your room, back to your shitty roommate? Is that what you want, or do you want to stay here tonight?" Charlie asked with a high-pitched shout, whipping his head over his shoulder, sticky grey residue circling his nose and upper lip clearly visible. He looked feral. 

"Jesus, Charlie, I want to stay here, I was-"

"Well don't talk shit on my room if you wanna stay here, huh?" Charlie suggested.

"Fine, whatever," Dee answered, dropping her bag from her shoulders with a thud. She walked over to the laptop and tapped on it to wake up the screen as she said, "Can you turn this shit off? It's too depressing."

"This is not depressing, Dee!" Charlie yelled, slamming his paintbrush down into the pallet, splattering acrylic on his carpet. "This is a beautiful song about a dude who is super cool and totally gets boned by the girl he loves because she doesn't know how badass he is, but then he gets possessed by a dude that shows her what a man he is and they fall in love!"

"Okay…" Dee said, pulling her hand away from the laptop. "Fine, whatever. Can I turn on the TV at least?"

"No Dee, some of us actually have to work on projects, some of us have scholarships. I can't finish my painting if you're talking at me and turning on T.V.s and making fun of my music!"

"Fine, fuck it, Charlie. I'm gonna go take a shower," she told him, grabbing her bag, already walking to his private bathroom.

Charlie sighed in relief when she left. He wanted to keep painting, but she fucked up his concentration. He ended up on his bed, warm beer he kept stashed under his bed on the nightstand and Mac's vape pen in his hand. Music off, he had the TV on.

When Dee came back out with wet hair and in a t-shirt and shorts, her annoyance was apparent, but Charlie didn't notice and Dee didn't voice it, afraid of pissing Charlie off.

"Hey, can I hit that?" She asked as she sat on the ground, leaning against Charlie's bed.

"Yeah," he said, handing her the pen. "Do me a favor Dee, get a can of cat food from under the bed, I wanna go to sleep."

"Excuse me?" She asked before taking a long hit.

"Cat food!" He repeated loudly, Dee couldn't tell if he was angry or excited, and honestly, Charlie wasn't quite sure himself.

"Alright, alright!" Dee shouted back, leaning down to look under the bed. She shuffled through dirty laundry and torn papers and varying craft supplies of different degrees of sticky and/or slimy before she finally pulled out a small, metal cylindrical can of salmon flavored wet cat food. Holding it up skeptically, she asked, "This is what you want?"

"Yah, Dee. Cat food, can't you read?" He asked, pulling it from her hand.

"You know what? I don't even want to know," Dee shook her head before shuffling through her bag for a bottle of nail polish. Leaning against Charlie's bed and looking up at the TV again, she started meticulously painting her nails as Charlie scooped the cat food out of the can with his hands.

"Good, you're not here to be nosey," Charlie answered through a full mouth.

"So who's your date with?" Dee asked when the TV switched to a commercial.

Charlie let out a loud groan, he's told Dee not to be nosey so many times. Still, he did like to brag, so he answered, "You know that pretty chick who works at the dining hall?"

Dee let out a loud laugh at his answer and shook his head, “The hot waitress? Yeah right, Charlie.”

“You don’t think I could-”

“I have a date with her this weekend, and by date, I’m gonna bang her. She is full blown dyke.”

“You what?” Charlie shouted, sitting up in his bed, flipping the blankets about so the fell onto the floor with a thud. “Get out of my room!”  
“You can’t just-”

“Get out of my room!” he shouted again, standing up, towering over Dee as she sat on the floor, the only time he’d ever towered over anybody.

“Alright, alright,” She said, waving her hands up to show she meant no harm as she rose slowly, picking up her bag.

“Go!” he screamed again, pointing to the door.

“Charlie, Jesus, I’m going! What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Charlie slammed the door behind her and locked it before collapsing on his bed with a groan. He didn’t know if there was enough glue or cat food in the world to help him fall asleep after that conversation. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mac and Charlie are both heartbroken, Dennis is a bastard man. Idk. There's strangulation and bottle breaking and hand holding, so prepare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's dennis being a transphobic bastard man in this chapter. :(

Still sticky with sweat drying on his skin, Mac had to pull himself off of Dennis’ chest. When Mac didn’t come back to the dorm or answer his phone, Dennis was almost certain of where he was, and he was right. He saw Mac, furiously and flawlessly, repeating the same move over and over again to no music. Dennis apologized to Mac, Mac accepted although he wasn’t sure if it was sincere or just because Dennis was lonely and insecure again already.

Still, the two of them sat with their backs against the wall of the empty studio, talking and apologizing, Mac’s head eventually falling onto Dennis’ shoulder, Dennis wrapping his arm around Mac’s chest. This was as close as Mac would get to public affection from Dennis, so he would take it. He would take anything Dennis gave him.

But his phone was buzzing with text after text after text.

Emojis of a house. A blonde girl. A brunette girl. A boy. Question mark. Question mark. Exclamation point. Semicolon. Salad. The letter q. Exclamation point. Question mark.

“Den, I gotta go,” Mac sighed, putting the phone back in his pocket.

“Go? Go where? You wanna go back to the room?”

“Uh, no, Charlie’s freaking out.”

“Screw Charlie. Let-”

“Dude, i gotta.”

“No, c’mon. I’m tired, aren’t you tired, Mac?”

Mac wasn’t sure if it hurt his heart to hear Dennis so desperate or if it satisfied him some sick way.

“I’ll come back later, I promise.”

“What if I come?”

Mac tilted his head and sent an emoji of two men holding hands and a question mark, to which Chalire responded a thumbs up.

“Alright, man, yeah, let’s go.”

"Can we stop at our room to get something to drink?"

"Charlie's got beers."

"Yeah, Natty Ice or Bud Light or some bullshit, I want something better."

"Fine yeah, sure. I don't think we're partying, though."

“I’m not partying, I just need something to take the edge off,” Dennis answered, standing up, wiping his hands on his pant legs. Like he was wiping off the memory of Mac pressing against him before they went out in public.

Mac grabbed his bag and changed his shoes and the two of them walked back to the dorm, Charlie was on the same floor as them so it really was no big deal to stop at their room first. 

Mac changed into less sweaty clothes while Dennis packed a gym bag with a small bottle of whiskey. They talked very little on the way, despite having just had such an intimate conversation in the studio. They had such different dynamics, all depending on what Dennis decided their dynamic should be based on the social situation. If there were ever a time after Dennis, Mac would vow never to mess around with a guy as deep in the closet as Dennis. His heart broke every day, and he just suffered through it for the good times.

Mac hated being nervous just to hang out with Charlie and Dennis. In high school, it was never this bad, but things shifted their first year at school, and this year, now that he and Dennis are roommates, it’s only gotten worse. And with Charlie, probably in some sort of mood, the whole situation was even messier now. 

Mac didn’t bother knocking, he let himself into Charlie’s room, it was usually unlocked. And there Charlie was, curled up under the blankets, cradling a small bottle of glue close to his face.

“Charlie? What’s with all the darkness?” Dennis asked, walking past Mac to turn on a light.

Charlie whined and flopped onto his back, flinging his arm over his eyes, “I’m heartbroken.”

“Is this about that waitress?” Mac asked, walking to Charlie’s bed, sitting on the edge as Dennis took a seat on Charlie’s futon.

“Yes!” Charlie shouted, he shot up and pointed at Dennis, “And your terrible sister!”

“My sister? You’re in love with Dee?” Dennis asked with a laugh as he opened his bag, pulling the whiskey out.

“Ew!!” Mac and Charlie said in tandem. 

“No, no, no! I’m not in love with Dee! She’s banging the waitress!”

“No way? The waitress is gay?” Mac asked, trying to hold back a laugh.

“Sexuality’s more fluid than that,” Dennis said before taking a sip from the bottle.

“Not for everyone,” Mac shot back quickly.

“Pass that over here,” Charlie said, ignoring Mac as he held his hand out, “C’mon man, I’m the one with a broken heart.”

Dennis rolled his eyes but took a swig out of the bottle before handing it back to Charlie.

Charlie leaned back against the headboard of his bed, taking a long sip and Mac sighed and said, “So you gonna find someone else to fall in love with?”

“No,” Charlie said, shaking his head, passing the bottle to Mac, who immediately took a sip. “I’m gonna keep going for it, I think it’s true love.”

“Well I mean, it might work, it’s not like you’re too different.”

“From Dee? Shut up! I am  _ not  _ as pathetic as your freak sister!”

“No, from girls,” Dennis said with a shrug.

Charlie’s eyes immediately narrowed as he looked at Dennis, Mac looked over at Charlie immediately, worried.

“What’s that mean, Dennis?” Charlie shouted.

“Hey, hey, he didn’t mean it!” Mac said quickly.

“I was just saying-”

“Den, drop it!”

“ _ Den, drop it? _ ” Charlie mimicked. “You’re really going to take his side?”

“I’m not on his side!” Mac said quickly, “That was fucked up, Dennis.”

“Yeah, it was fucked up!”

“Dude! I was just-”

“Don’t!” Mac shouted.

Dennis huffed and reached over to Mac to grab his whiskey, when Charlie jumped forward to grab at his neck, getting a good hold.

Mac threw himself between them as Charlie half-strangled Dennis and Dennis slapped at Mac and Charlie indiscriminately, the three of them shouting.

Eventually, Mac grabbed Charlie’s hands, pulling his wrists above their heads as Dennis backed away, grasping at his neck as he gasped dramatically.

“Get the fuck out, Dennis,” Mac shouted at him, half out of anger, half out of fear.

“When are-” Dennis started.

“Get out!” Mac shouted again.

When he left, Charlie wiggled out of Mac’s grasp and ran to the door, Mac grabbed him by his shirt, sending Charlie to the floor with a fall.

“You’re really not gonna let me beat the shit out of him? You would’ve beat the shit out of him if it wasn’t Dennis! Hell, you would have beat the shit out of him if it was Dennis a year ago!” Charlie shouted.

“Don’t be mad at me, dude, Dennis is the dick, not me!”

“But you like don’t even care that he’s being a dick to me!” Charlie shouted, kicking at some of the clutter on his ground. 

“Dude, I do care, okay? I’ll talk to him, just, it’s not-”

“I just want to fucking kick the shit out of him!” Charlie shouted.

“I know dude, but c’mon, we can’t do that, please, can we just..”

“Wanna go smash bottles with me?”

Mac thought for a moment, eyes looking up in the air as he searched his mind before nodding.

“Pick up as much shit as you see,” Charlie said, grabbing his empty backpack, already filling it with the varying empty glass bottles and tin cans in his room. Mac joined him. Two birds with one stone. They get their anger out and Charlie’s room is slightly cleaner.

They walked together to the rec center, just the sound of clinking bottles and Charlie’s huffing breath as they walked. This wasn’t the first time they’d done this, so they walked to the same spot as they’d been at before, a safe distance from the building, and emptied out the backpack on the ground.

Charlie picked up a bottle and hurled it at the wall with a shout. He did this again. And again. And then Mac joined. Charlie imagined Dennis’ face, Dee’s face, Mac’s face even. Mac just thought about Dennis, and himself. When they ran out of garbage, they picked up rocks. Their shouts had, at some point, dissolved into laughter, praising good throws by one another.

Charlie flopped back on the pavement, laying down and looking up at the sky, clouded by smog.

“Feel better, bud?”

“I’m still pissed at Dennis,” Charlie answered with a sigh.

“Me too, but I feel better,” Mac said.

“Are you mad at Dennis for me?”

“Of course,” Mac answered quickly.

“But for you too?” Charlie asked.

“Well yeah,” Mac sighed, he sat down beside Charlie, hands supporting himself from behind. “Dude, can I just like, can I just talk to you? Like I know you’re pissed and you should be, but like, I been holding it in all day.”

“Yeah man, go for it,” Charlie said with a shrug. “I’m pissed at Dennis, but I’m not mad at you still.”

“He freaked out last night again, you know, typical Dennis freak out. Got a bad grade on his last assignment, and how dare everybody not know he’s a god in this world, you know? And I was trying to calm him down, I told him I loved him,” Mac sighed and shook his head.

“Didn’t say it back?” Charlie asked.

“He freaked out even more,” Mac sighed.

“Ouch,” Charlie whispered. He sat up, hand reaching back to let his fingertips rest on top of Mac’s.

“Yeah,” Mac sighed. When Charlie sat up, he leaned against Charlie’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry, man. He’s a prick, you know that? Like I know he’s dealing with shit or whatever you always say, but he treats you like shit. You’re such a badass dude, you deserve somebody who knows it.”

“Thanks man,” Mac whispered. Charlie wrapped his arm around Mac, pulling him to his chest. Mac said quietly, “I’m sorry I didn’t let you beat the shit out of him, I should have. You know he’s wrong, right? There’s a big difference, you’re a dude.”

“Trust me, I know I’m a dude,” Charlie said, “I just wish Dennis didn’t just like throw that in my face back there. Like what? He feels shitty ‘cause he doesn’t like being gay so he’s trying to make me feel shitty for being trans? I don’t!”

“You shouldn’t,” Mac answered. He lifted his head off of Charlie and said, “Can we just go back to your room?”

“Yeah, I need a beer.”

“Me too. I can stay over tonight, right?”

“Yeah, man, any night.” Charlie said.

They both stood up. Charlie picked up his bag and started walking, fingers immediately intertwining with Mac’s as they walked. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dennis tries to apologize to Charlie... kind of ?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey minor trauma/ptsd tw :(

Charlie actually got up on time for the lecture he was supposed to go to, thanks to Mac. He found Dee's nail polish on the floor from the night before and brought it with him. He may actually be able to listen to the lecture if he has something to do with his hands. He wasn't feeling that angry when he woke up, but maybe a little more dysphoric, wearing three layers on top of his binder, hoping to keep his own thoughts at bay.

 

Mac was asleep when Charlie left, Charlie didn't bother him. He did lock the door behind him, not really for Mac's protection but because the idea of Dennis sneaking in there to make up with Mac and the two of them sad banging on his bed was gross to Charlie. 

 

While in class, Charlie did paint his nails the deep black, listening carefully. Music history was a stupid class, he didn't need to know about dead composers to make his own music, but he sure did need to avoid failing to keep his scholarship. Luckily, through disability services, another student would send the class notes over to him, and because Mac is a good friend, the two of them would read them aloud together and work on comprehension. Class was fine, but Charlie stuck around afterwards because he knew there wasn't another section in the room for an hour and his nails weren't dry. 

 

In the empty room alone, he pulled out a bottle of airplane glue and began to huff, sitting back and letting the headrush come. When Dennis walked in the room, he thought he might be hallucinating.

 

"What are you doing here?" Charlie asked, eyes squinting to make out Dennis more clearly.

 

Dennis crossed the room and didn't answer til he sat next to Charlie, "C'mon, Charlie, you can't be mad at me forever."

 

"No, but I don't feel like dealing with you now, I'm just trying to enjoy a glue high."

 

Dennis took the airplane glue off the table and unscrewed the cap, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

 

"Fine, just be cool. Don't be a prick."

 

"I won't, I was just in a shit mood last night."

 

"You're always in a shit mood," Charlie sighed. He blew onto his nails absently. 

 

"Whatever, won't happen again," Dennis said. "I know you're a dude."

 

"Me too," Charlie answered.

 

"Cool."

 

"Cool." There was a moment of silence, then Charlie asked, "How'd you know I was here?"

 

"I passed the room when I was leaving my lit theory class."

 

"Oh." Charlie took the glue and breathed in deeply, happy for the floaty feeling.

 

"You're one of my best friends man," Dennis said quietly.

 

"You too, Den," Charlie mumbled, eyes unfocused as he stared off in the distance. He felt Dennis leaning close to him and ignored it, no matter how unnatural it felt in two separate desk seats. He felt Dennis hand on his thigh and ignored it, feeling the rise and fall of his own chest. He ignored Dennis' hand on his cheek. When Dennis' lips pressed to his, Charlie went rigid, hands curling up into a ball, smudging the sticky, wet nail polish into his palms.

 

Dennis slimy, sticky, fat tongue was in Charlie's mouth, despite Charlie staying rigid, eyes still open, making the even pale tone of Dennis' face fuzzy.

 

"Charlie," Dennis whispered in a voice almost like a pant, as if they'd just banged, as he pulled away, hand still on Charlie's cheek. "What's wrong, baby? You can't tell me you don't feel-"

 

"I have to go," Charlie said, tugging away from Dennis, standing up so quickly the chair behind him rocked onto it's hind legs.

 

"C'mon," Dennis said desperately, standing up and grabbing Charlie's hand.

 

"No, Den. What, you're gonna convince yourself you're not gay by banging me and saying I'm not  _ really  _ a dude?" Charlie huffed, tugging his hand back.

 

"No!" Dennis shouted. "I mean, I'm not gay, but it's something about  _ you,  _ Charlie. Not because you're trans, but because-"

 

"Oh, so this is to make Mac jealous?" Charlie shot back.

 

"Make Mac jealous? Why?" Dennis said with a laugh, as if Mac didn't tell Charlie every detail. 

 

"Listen, Dennis, I don't know what's going on up here," Charlie said, gesturing to his head,  "But when you put all those screws back in place, let me know. I miss when you were cool."

 

And with that, Charlie stormed out of the room. He was shaking. He didn't know why he was shaking, but he was. He and Dennis made out in high school a few times, but this was different. It wasn't the possible transphobia, nor was it the fact Charlie felt used. It was… the way Dennis went about it. Dennis made him feel important and then creeped in, like a predator stalking its prey, ready to go in for the kill. 

 

Maybe Dennis didn't mean to make Charlie feel trapped, or maybe he did. Charlie couldn't tell. He stomped all the way to his building, thankful Dennis stayed behind. Mac wasn't in his room when he got back, which was good because Mac would have tried to convince him not to smoke a blunt and nap in lieu of going to his next class.

>   
>    
>    
> 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dee & Dennis plan on going to a frat to hang out, Mac confronts Dennis, Dee is a lesbian, and everybody but Dee is sad. (charlied not in this chaprer :()

Laying in the sun on her stomach, back and shoulders soaking in the sun as she tried her god damn best to soak in knowledge about media synergy, but who could really give a fuck about media synergy and Lucille Ball? Dee was pretty sure that anybody who'd ever seen a full episode of I Love Lucy was dead by now, why did it matter?

 

Well, of course, her text book was trying to explain why it mattered, but she couldn't goddamn read that far. She was considering bugging Charlie or Mac to go to the school psychiatrist and get diagnosed with ADHD so she could take their addies, she was sure either of them would qualify. But Mac would probably preach about how God made him the way he was meant to be, and everybody was afraid of the many diagnoses Charlie might walk away with- he only ever went to doctors for hormone treatments and no other reason ever.

 

Her mind was wandering when she felt something hit her back. 

 

"What the fuck?" she shouted as she propped up on her elbow to look at what asshole on the quad could have thrown something at her. 

 

Of course it was Dennis, what a surprise. She crumbled up the piece of paper that slid off her back and threw it back at him. 

 

"What do you want, asshole?" she asked, rolling onto her back, keeping herself propped up on her shoulders.

 

"I'm bored. Mac and Charlie are being assholes. Do you wanna get out of here?"

 

"I have a feeling between the three of you, you're the one being an asshole, but yeah, whatever. I can't fucking study," she said. She turned to close her textbook. "I don't want to go back to my room, can we stop by yours to drop my bag off at and, if we're going out, can I borrow some clothes?"

 

"Sure, what's the plan then?" Dennis asked, reaching down to help her up from her sport on the grass.

 

"Eh, I don't know. It's a little early to head to a club, isn't it?"

 

"I guess so. We could head to the frat I'm gonna pledge next year," Dennis shrugged. "One of the guys there told me I should stop by this week."

 

"You boning him?"

 

"Me?" Dennis laughed, rolling his eyes. "You know I don't bang guys."

 

"Sure ya don't, and I do," she scoffed.

 

Dennis couldn't help but genuinely laugh at that, but he didn't say anymore on the subject. It wasn't a long walk to Dennis and Mac's room. Dennis was praying Mac wouldn't be there. Fucking asshole, choosing Charlie over him on the one night ever that Dennis was actually vulnerable and open to him! Whatever, Dennis didn't need Mac, he didn't need any one, he's a fucking god, a golden god!

 

Of course, when they got to the room, he felt like less of a god. Some sad, shitty punk band's music was pouring out from beneath the crack in the door. Dennis looked over at Dee and they both rolled their eyes.

 

He opened the door and smiled over at Mac, who was watching something on his laptop, which sat on his chest, the shitty music playing on a Bluetooth speaker.

 

"Hey pal, what's up?" Dennis asked, placing his carrier bag nearly below his desk by the chair.

 

"Oh hey, Den. Hey, Dee," he said, shutting the laptop as he sat up. "What're you guys up to?"

 

"Oh, um, nothing," Dee laughed awkwardly, knowing immediately she didn't want Mac to tag along. "I'm just gonna change, we're gonna head out."

 

"Oh, cool," Mac said. He looked over at Dennis, smile dropping, "Hey, can we talk about last night? That was really fucked up."

 

"Oh my god, you and Charlie are too damn sensitive!" Dennis shouted immediately.

 

Dee was hiding behind the door of Dennis' open wardrobe as she took off her shirt, watching the lover's quarrel with a nosey interest. 

 

"Sensitive? No, you're just a total prick! If we even  _ mention  _ that you might bi, you have a total meltdown, but you can go around talking about Charlie's genitals?" Mac shouted.

 

"You what?" Dee asked, barely holding back a laugh of surprise. "You asshole."

 

"Stay out of this, bird!" both Mac and Dennis shouted in unison. She rolled her eyes and walked across her room in her bra to Mac's wardrobe. 

 

Mac ignored Dee looking through his clothes, fighting with one Reynolds twin was more than enough.

 

"It wasn't that bad and you know it!" Dennis shouted, looking back at Mac. "I was just joking!"

 

"Well it's not funny and you know it!" 

 

"Fine, whatever. It's over, we don't need to talk about it, it won't happen again."

 

Mac sighed and shook his head. "Whatever, Dennis."

 

"What else do you want from me?"

 

Dee walked over to them, sporting one of Mac's muscle shirts, bra abandoned on the floor to sport some serious side boob action, bottom of the shirt tucked into her jean shorts.

 

"Can you two dickhead stop fighting? Dennis, you were wrong, Mac, he's not going to apologize. You idiots aren't gonna get past that."

 

"Whatever," Mac mumbled, opening his laptop again. 

 

"Why are you dressed slutty, you know there are only dudes at frats, right?"

 

"Yah, but maybe we can go to a club after."

 

"You guys are going to the frat?"

 

Dennis stiffened his spine and put on a pointedly neutral facial expression. "Yeah, got to show face for when I pledge next year, you know? That way they won't go too hard on me."

 

"Yeah, not if you sucking their dicks!" Dee said in an exaggerated aside, laughing at her own joke after. 

 

"Shut the fuck up!" Dennis said, tugging at the hem of his shirt, as if he was making sure his shirt was on right. Just trying to distract himself from this terrible goddamn conversation.

 

"C'mon, it was funny," she laughed.

 

"Not funny," Mac answered, glaring at her. 

 

"Whatever babies," Dee laughed. "Hey do either of yous have any cool snapbacks? I need something to go with this outfit."

 

"I've for a Phillies cap and an Eagles cap, that's about it," Mac shrugged.

 

"You think Charlie does?" she asked. 

 

"That kid has never accessorized in his life," Dennis laughed.

 

"Hey, you can't laugh at Charlie right now!" Mac shouted.

 

Dennis rolled his eyes and looked over at Dee. "Hey, let's get out of here."

 

"Hell yeah, starting the party at four on a Wednesday!"

 

"That's just how we roll, sweet Dee," Dennis said laughing fondly, glancing over his shoulder at Mac as Dee led them out of the room.

 

Mac groaned and let his head fall onto the bed, he turned up the music remotely from his phone and then sent out a text to Charlie. Dancer emoji, trumpet emoji, a green leaf emoji, a cigarette emoji, and a question mark. Mac thought he should talk to some tech kid about designing an app that could translate regular talk to Charlie emoji talk. He groaned and pressed play on his laptop, waiting for Charlie to either answer or just walk through his door.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> um some good coping mechanisms, some bad coping mechanisms. it's what you should expect. charmac heavy chapter b/c that's who i am as a person.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> found this in my drafts and it was pretty much already written.

“Hey man, what’s going on?” Charlie asked as he walked through the unlocked door, backpack slung over his shoulder.

“Hey dude, whatcha got?” Mac asked, sitting up, criss-cross applesauce on the bed.

“I got some weed and a trumpet,” Charlie said, jingling his backpack. 

“Sweet, you wanna see if a studio’s open?” Mac asked. “I can vibe on that shit you’re working on for your midterm.”

“Yeah man? I’m trying to fuck with the counter melody, are you down for that?”

“Yeah something new would be good for my improv class,” Mac stretched his legs out and swung them over the side of the bed, stepping onto the cold tile. “Let me change?”

“Sure man,” Charlie said. He swung his sneakered shoes onto Mac’s bed, towards his pillow, stretching out. Mac rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything, he mentally decided to complain to Dennis about it when they both forgave each other.

Mac went through his closet, groaning at how Dee had disheveled it. He decided to go with it for once and added to the mess as he shuffled through until he found a dark grey tank top and black bike shorts. He couldn’t help but admire the way his muscles popped when he glanced in the mirror.

“Let’s head out,” Mac said, throwing a lightweight sweatshirt over his shoulder and grabbing his refillable water bottle.

Charlie followed Mac, toying with the straps of his backpack as they walked. They talked bullshit across the campus to the dance studios. He was trying to convince Mac to get high before they started practicing, but Mac was talking a bunch of words about lungs and breathing and some dumb bullshit. Charlie would rather have been playing a keyboard anyway, but he was working with brass instruments in one of his classes this semester, which he didn’t hate as much as he expected. Except the lung capacity bullshit. 

They got into a studio (after barging into two other studios that had been appropriately scheduled before finding an empty one). Charlie found the bottle of nailpolsih remover in his bag. He huffed that while Mac started his stretches. When his head was just about dizzy enough, he played a few scales, making them as jazzy as possible, just for fun.

“Okay, let’s stop fucking around,” Mac said after a few minutes, still stretching out one of his arms. “What’s the tempo you’re going at?”

“Uh…” Charlie sighed and leaned down to shuffle through his backpack. He found a small digital metronome. He pressed a few buttons and put the volume up as loud as he could. He tapped his foot a few times and half-heartedly played a line of the countermelody. He pulled the trumpet away from his lips and looked over to Mac, “That sound good?”  
“Yeah, let’s go,” Mac said.

And with that, Charlie closed his eyes and started playing a line of the countermelody, the way he’d originally composed it. The sound of his trumpet drowned out the sound of the metronome. Mac was an audience to himself, watching the mirror as he danced along, trying moves he wasn’t quite as comfortable with in succession he wasn’t quite used to. 

Similarly, Charlie played the same few lines over and over in variations. Some of the variations were generally discordant and uncomfortable variations of the original while others sounded wildly different from the original. 

The two of them vibed for at least fifteen minutes before Charlie put his trumpet down mid-line and buzzed his lips lazily. The sudden break in sound with no deescalation shocked Mac, who stopped mid-move, arms and legs contorted in an artful yet unnatural way.

“What was that about?” Mac groaned as he lowered himself to a normal standing position.

“I’m bored, dude. Can we go get high now?”

“Charlie, you’re the worst,” Mac groaned, rolling his neck in a circular motion before pressing his shoulder blades together to stretch that tension out as well.

“Whatever, man. Don’t add the weed emoji if you don’t want to get high,” Charlie shrugged, shoving the trumpet haphazardly into his bag again. 

“Fine,” Mac said. He picked his zip-up hoodie off the ground and draped it over his forearm, waiting until he was less sweaty to put it back on. Charlie looked at Mac’s muscled with something between admiration and jealousy.

Mac hummed in thought as they walked out the door. “It’s too light to find a place on campus to smoke, where are we gonna smoke up?”

“Let’s just go back to my room.”

“You pick up more febreze?”

“Do I look like I have the money for more febreze?” 

“Fair, there’s some in my room. Let’s swing by there first,” Mac decided.

Charlie nodded. 

The walk across campus, Charlie asked for feedback on his song, Mac told him what he liked to dance to, but he didn’t know how it would sound with everything else. They decided to listen to the recording on Charlie’s school-provided laptop. Mac told him about the moves he’d tried and what he was proud of, Charlie had trouble keeping up with the terminology, but he smiled and nodded, sometimes inputting inaccurate feedback that Mac didn’t bother to correct.

Two hours later, they were laying on the floor, heads touching, Charlie’s fingers playing with the towel on his floor, wet with dirty bong water they’d spilled earlier, quiet indie music playing. They started with Charlie’s piece, and then a few classical pieces, and then they went song for song on a few indie pop songs, until they let Spotify take them on a musical journey from one related song to another, both of them forgetting the music was there at all.

“You know,” Mac said, popping up and holding his weight on his elbow. The quick movement startled Charlie enough to give him energy he didn’t know he had to sit up. “I’m like not even mad that Dennis is blowing some random dude, like whatever, blow whoever you want, I just wish he would man up about it, you know?”

“Dennis is blowing another dude right now?”

“I mean, not right now right now, well maybe, I don’t know.”

“Shit man, you should start banging more dudes.”

“I don’t want to start banging more dudes,” Mac sighed, laying back down, arm covering his eyes. 

Charlie rolled his eyes and laid back down as well. He reached his arm out over his head so that it could touch Mac’s forearm. It wasn’t a traditionally comforting touch, but any touch from Charlie could be comforting to Mac. Especially since Charlie wasn’t one for comforting touches all the time.

“Yeah, ‘cause you love Dennis,” Charlie said quietly.

“Nevermind, I don’t wanna fuck up our high,” Mac said. “It’s stupid. Let’s not talk about it anymore.”

“We could always rip the bong again,” Charlie said, sitting up slowly again, retracting the touch from Mac, which made Mac sit up as well.

“Yeah man, I guess so,” Mac sighed. He reached an arm under Charlie’s bed and felt around for the lukewarm beer cans.

“It’s stupid that Dennis pretends he doesn’t like dudes,” Charlie said as he started to pack the small bowl with the leftover weed in hsi grinder. “I mean, like, I don’t even pretend I’m straight and I only ever bang one dude.”

“Yeah, that’s only ‘cause you can’t get with that waitress girl,” Mac laughed.

“That’s not why!” Charlie said quickly.

“Oh, so are you in love with me?” Mac asked with a smirk.

Charlie rolled his eyes and shook his head, “I’m not gonna bang you anymore if you’re gonna be annoying about it.”

“I mean, I could forget about Dennis and just marry you.” 

Charlie laughed and propped himself up, rolling onto his stomach to look down at Mac.

“Sorry but no way am I being the dude you settle for ‘cause you can’t have Dennis. That feels pathetic, even for me. Plus, I’m in love anyway.”

“With a dyke.”

“Just because she banged Sweet Dee doesn’t mean she’s a dyke!”

“Just like Dennis isn’t gay even though he’s-”

“Shut up!” Mac shouted. “God I’d never marry you.”

Charlie laughed and nodded, lowering himself back down, rolling over to his back. 

“Yeah, I wouldn’t marry you either,” Charlie said, grinning up at the ceiling.

“God you’re so annoying,” Mac huffed.

“Wanna make out about it?” Charlie suggested.

“Whatever,” Mac mumbled.

And they did. And Mac fell asleep in Charlie’s room again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Charlie's last line "Wanna make out about it?" is insp by the song "10/10 Would Chill Again" by The Prettiots (not their best song tbh but i fucking love it anyway) and i only insert this b/c they're a great fucking band and everybody should listen to them


End file.
